Eliza adjusted to the weight of the vest and leaned at the car while Doug pointed his gun on her.

"Comfortable, isn't it? However I would recommend avoiding any kind of shaking, pulling on the strings or taking it off. It only can be defused by remote"
Mr. Autumn said while he was texting as a phone buzzed.
"Bring her keys to McKinney so they can take care of the vulnerable parts" he ordered Doug who went straight away. "Dr. Danvers, Janet is missing you. I take this if you don't mind. If I hear anything from you, Paul will pay the price"

"Okay", Eliza replied through gritted teeth.

"Eliza, finally. Where are you? Cops and FEDs are here" Janet asked.

"I'm sorry, Janet. We didn't mean to worry you but Dr. Danvers stays with us for a while", Mr. Autumn told her.

"Who is this? Where's Dr. Danvers?"

"My name is Mr. Autumn. Me and my friends take care of Dr. Danvers and a security guard. I think his name is Paul. We have prepared the building and Dr. Danvers with explosives. If we think someone is coming for us, we will blow everything up. But you are allowed to clear the building. I'll send you a picture of your boss, Janet, to confirm this. Wait for our demands." he ended the call.

"This is about money? Or chemicals for drugs?" Eliza asked confused.

"This" he stressed " is lots of things. It's about paying a price for one's actions. Taking responsibility for them. This should prevent others from making the same mistakes again. So you may call this a statement, an inspiration" he made a dramatic pause and smiled "But we are humble. We just want to make a contribution for a better society"

Meanwhile

As the choppers neared Alex realised with relief that it was the DEO. After landing Vasquez approached her "Mam, what happened?"

"One of the recruits was tricked to smuggle a bomb in here that maybe was aimed at me. Besides exploding it was able to discharge every battery operated item here"

"That it is why we are here. You all disappeared from our monitor. Even your trackers were off for some minutes", the agent reported.

"Okay, then we need the crime scene covered and transport hurt recruits back"

"Not only the recruits. You too", Vasquez said.

"I have to take oversight here", Alex protested.

"You know you can't be part of an investigation on an attempt on your own life. Also you are hurt"

"But…"

"There has been an treat against you, so seems we've been too late"

"Whom did it come from?"

"I was only assigned to check on you and bring you back. I guess you'll be briefed at the facility"

"We demand you to free the persons who defended themselves against the harassing aliens. You receive the list now. We want them released and cleared of all charges. We want the secretary of education down here ending civil research on aliens forcing these so called scientists to hand over their research to the military, declaring this for our camera and Dr. Danvers fired. We want three million cash and two cars waiting outside. You have three hours. We will take Dr. Danvers with us and let her go after less than twelve hours when we sure you would not have followed us or bugged the cars", Autumn dictated.

"Mr. Autumn, I can't help with all of your demands. I have to talk to my superior to see what is possible. But from my experience I'm sure we'll need more time on the money", Special agent Miller replied.

"I guess if we blow this whole building up you will have enough time to gain the money to clear the ground", Mr. Autumn said angrily.

"I speak to my sups but it would help if I could speak to Dr. Danvers and you may provide us with Mr. Lambert's status – the security guard", she said.

"Don't make something stupid or Paul will pay the price", Mr. Autumn whispered as held the phone near Eliza.

"It's Eliza Danvers and I'm okay but Paul needs surgery. He was provided first aid but is still losing blood", the scientist told.

"So that's enough for the beginning. Work out to fulfil our demands after we've been so kindly now", he said and ended the call.

About 10 minutes later
Eliza suppressed a gasp when she saw Jeff appearing in the entrance of the parking lot.

"Look at this, they still don't take us serious", Mr. Autumn said and pointed his gun.

"It's only my assistant. He was on his way before your companion shot Paul. He probably doesn't know what's going on here. Please, leave him alone", Eliza tried to reason.

"I'm sorry but that's bad luck. Hey you, over here or your boss will regret it" he shouted towards Jeff who immediately took his hands over his head and came over. He looked afraid but said

"Let her go and take me instead"

"Nice offer, but why should I be content with a switch if can have all of you", Autumn replied "Now move"

Alex entered the facility and immediately approached Brainy. "What is going on?" "Director there has been a treat against your life so we…"

"Give me details, who, when, where, maybe why?" Alex asked impatiently.

"Well" Brainy hesitated "A gunmen fired into a group and when he faced police he articulated the treat while forcing them to kill him" he summarized while trying to avoid looking at her.

"That leaves almost every w-question unanswered. What are you hiding?"

"Just following orders. Now go to the infirmary, then Colonel Halley will talk to you", he said and turned to leave. Alex held him by his shoulder:

"Brainy, you are clearly hiding something. You look upset. What is wrong?" she pressed.

"The data we received from the explosion and your distance to it indicates that you might be hurt. So I'm ordered to take you to the med bay and afterwards to brief you", the clearly troubled twelve-level-intellect replied.

"Brainy", Alex said angry but Vasquez came to his aide

"Director, you've been displaying symptoms off being unwell. We went through what happened at the flight over here. Let the doctors rule out anything serious and Agent Dox will tell you immediately anything he knows, won't he?", Vasquez said and smiled at Brainy who replied

"I'm sorry agent Vasquez but I'm not after a relationship…ahh, you mean I should compromise and share my knowledge after serious injuries are excluded", he asked.

"Right. That is a good compromise, isn't it Director?" Vasquez asked.

"You tend forget that you are my subordinates and I'm your boss?" Alex growled.

"True. But unfortunately we have to take Haley's orders as well … and don't want you to pass out on the floor", the agent added.

Twenty minutes later in the medbay

"Minor concussion, some surficial cuts and a sprained ankle" the doctor summed up to Alex, Brainy and Vazquez.

"Due to the concussion you're on bedrest and I want to monitor you as we don't know how this bomb operated in disturbing all energy sources. Even though your data seem normal I want to exclude that it tampered with your brain, heart, circulation or so on", the doctor finished.

"Then you can finally tell me everything about the treat", Alex said.

"As you probably know today was a demonstration for press rights near the White House", Brainy began looked at Alex and then on the floor.

Alex took a deep breath but managed only to nod as she began to tense.

"A gunmen shot at six people, mostly journalists", he paused "One of them was your sister"

"What? No", Alex exclaimed and instantly reached for her phone to call Kara or check her messages only to remember it went into evidence.

"As he was surrounded by police he claimed that today your sister, your mother and you would be killed to wipe out an alien friendly family", he continued.

"How's my sister? What about my Mom?" Alex pressed.

"Your mother is taken hostage at the university. Her kidnappers demanding the end of civil alien research and three million dollars. But J'onn is there and trying to get to her" he continued.

"Kara?" Alex asked afraid as she felt Brainy was avoiding the subject.

"She was wounded and taken to hospital. She is in surgery"

What the bomb had not been able to do this news did to Alex. She felt like to crack and shatter into thousand pieces. She should have checked if they were safe. She should have talked Kara out of going there. So many 'should have's. Where should she go now? She didn't want to let anybody down again.

"I have to help" Alex said "Can you get in touch with Supergirl. She could get me to Mom and maybe help free her", she asked, lowering her voice.

"She is not able to intervene … because she was hurt and is trying to get better" Brainy stuttered. Alex watched him suspiciously but recognized a trace of concern in his voice.

"Oh… when? Maybe she is now good enough to just fly me there", Alex almost begged but her request felt not right … not fair … not logical.

"I tried to get to her" Brainy was interpreting his actions to take care of the right treatment of Kara "but she is in no condition to help. She was hurt and could deceive the people on the scene and get away but is powerless right now" he bended the truth.

"You can guess that no one is really keen in having you for safety issues but you should go to Washington. It's what Haley approves", Vasquez said.

"I can't do anything for Kara right now…but maybe I can help at the university", Alex argued. Still torn but hating the idea of sit and wait.

"You don't understand. We are ordered to let you fly to Washington or National City", Vasquez clarified.

"I'm your supervisor", Alex began. "This is my family. I don't care about orders, protocol or rules", she insisted.

"Officially you're out off duty because you've been hurt during an attack, status unknown, Mam'. …"

"You are in no condition to fight and you have to be monitored. … Wouldn't it be comforting for your sister you being there if she comes out of surgery", Brainy added.

Alex paled when he used the word if and swallowed hard. She had let Kara go there where she got hurt and was now fighting to get to her mom instead to get to her sister who was fighting for her life.

Vasquez tried to offer some hope "I guess, Agent Dox meant `when she wakes', don't you?"

"I have no data to predict recovering or exitus", he defended himself "I lack any sufficient data"

"Nobody is following orders blindly in this case…You would order the same…Haley will call you on your flight", Vasquez paused. "We'll send three planes to different locations to have a distraction", she continued "the recruits and your staff stays here under lockdown"

"Brainy, could you go and keep an eye on my Mom and J'onn. … And I want an update on Kara's status and every detail of the investigations", Alex gave in "and I need a phone"

He hesitated but finally agreed "Yes, of course"